


Disconcert

by greerwatson



Category: Forever Knight
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23981173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greerwatson/pseuds/greerwatson
Summary: While listening to music, Nick is interrupted by a visit from LaCroix.
Relationships: Nicholas Knight & Lucien LaCroix
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	Disconcert

The loft was alive with the sound of music. If Natalie had been there, perhaps she would have made some punning comment, though Nick could well not, of course, have understood the reference. As it was, he leaned over the railing of the balcony, eyes shut, as the concerto rose in glory around him.

“Mortals can be _so_ creative,” said his master’s voice. Nick swung round on the instant to see LaCroix peering in through the skylight. Then, with a brisk gust, the face was gone; and he turned to see the other vampire standing in front of the fireplace, looking up at him sardonically.

“Why are you here?” said Nick wearily. “Another of your lectures, is it? I’d rather listen to the music, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, I don’t mind the music,” said LaCroix blandly. “In fact, I enjoy a piece such as this rather more than the jazz and pop of this century, though one must keep up with the times. I think,” he added, with a reflective look on his face, “you will agree that this would hardly suit the clientele of the Raven. However—’ He smiled sweetly. “—there are still those with a discerning ear who appreciate the classics. As do you. As do I.” With rather more interest, he looked down the room. “Is this Martha Argerich? I recognize the technique. I heard her in Berlin about…” He hesitated, and then with some surprise said, “…fifteen years ago, I do believe! How time does fly.” He looked back up at Nick. “No, I don’t mind your taste in music, Nicholas.’

“How kind.”

“I would,” said LaCroix, and his voice hardened, “feel rather differently were you to cling to rebec and lute.”

This was met with puzzlement.

LaCroix sighed with exasperation. “Really, Nicholas! This—” He waved his hand towards the entertainment centre. “—is not the music of your mortal years. And it is certainly not the music of _my_ mortal years! There are few alive today who remember _that_ as it once was played.” With a wry smile, he corrected, “None alive, in fact. And precious few undead.”

He paused, presumably for effect. Nick waited. There would, of course, be a moral to this tale. There always was.

LaCroix sighed softly. “Ah, Nicholas. Some day this too shall pass. As did Egypt; as did Rome. The world as you know it will fall to chaos; and a new world will rise from the ashes.”

“Are you talking of the apocalypse?” demanded Nick. “Or the fall of another asteroid?”

“Does it matter? What is gone is gone. Once it is gone, what matter why? That is the true lesson of our kind: _all_ passes. Do not get attached to the ephemera of any one age. To live forever is to live in an eternal present.”

Why he had come, he did not say. Nick didn’t ask: he didn’t care. He just spat out his usual retorts, which his master barely deigned to counter.

When, finally, he was alone again, Nick put the CD on from the start. For a man who claimed to enjoy music, LaCroix had talked most annoyingly over the entire recording.


End file.
